What is House Sitting and How to Get Started With It 66

House sitting is one of the best ways to stay somewhere for free when you’re going on a holiday, or spending more time in another country.

When you house sit, you’re looking after someone’s house and/or pets. It’s a win-win situation because the other person knows he’ll find everything the way he left it and his home will be taken care of, and you get free accommodation with everything you need to live well at a new place.

That might interest you if you’re a frequent traveler, a digital nomad, want to explore a new country on a budget, want to escape reality for a while, just started working remotely and are ready to go to another place, are a couple that’s taking a few months off to travel the world, or are pensioners looking for some quiet time away from home.

Whatever the case is, there are people out there who would love for you to spend some time in their places, feel at home, play with their pets, and do everything you would be doing on a standard holiday.

What Makes House Sitting Possible

We live in a shared economy now. Which means we have access to all sorts of resources, share them, stay connected, and thus make everything cheaper and more pleasant.

That’s the case with house renting and couch surfing, transport, lending and borrowing money without having to go to the bank, crowdfunding, sharing office spaces, all the digital marketplaces out there that let you sell or buy anything, or offer your services (whatever they are) and get paid for it.

House sitting is one of them.

Some time ago such opportunities didn’t exist because the Internet didn’t allow people looking for house and pet sitters to find and connect with travelers. What’s more, it wasn’t a safe thing to do.

Such jobs were paid, couldn’t be monitored by a third party (like it is now with the site you’re using to find each other, which takes care of the payment and makes sure both sides are real and trustworthy people).

A Few Important Things to Know About House Sitting

It’s an agreement you make with the home owner, and you’ll have some responsibilities along the way.

Depending on the house sitting assignment, you might need to take care of some animals and take a dog for a walk twice a day, clean litter boxes of cats, or anything else the landlord has mentioned in his offer. Which means that even if you don’t think it’s necessary to feed or clean that much, you should follow the instructions. They are never too many, but some owners just want their pets to feel like nothing has changed.

Needless to say, you should be an animal lover, or at least willing to be around animals, keep them company and make some compromises.

Even when you’re at his house, though, you’ll need to keep in touch. That might be one call every few days, but it can also be a daily picture with the pet on WhatsApp. So be prepared to be social and to show that you care.

There will be some other tasks to complete, like keeping things organized, watering plants, letting someone in at a fixed time, or else. It’s never a big deal, but you should pay attention to details and stick to the plan.

Of course, you should feel at home, especially when you’re staying for a few weeks at that place (which is the case most of the times), but you should always keep in mind that this is someone else’s house and treat it with respect.

Where to Look for Assignments

There are many options, but a couple of platforms are the best in this niche. Meaning, they offer many opportunities, work well in terms of searching, loading and processing anything, and are a place where all home owners and house sitters have a profile at.

Let’s begin with my favorite one, Trusted House Sitters. There’s an annual subscription of around $95 that lets you submit proposals to trusted home owners.

To get started, register, pay to become a member if necessary, and start creating your profile. You should seem friendly, and focus more on your relevant experience, countries you like and what can be expected from you once you’re there. These are the things home owners want to know.

A picture of you smiling and holding your own pet would be much better than one with friends, for instance.

Write a few paragraphs about yourself and what you do in your description too, and keep in mind that the words you use show your personality.

Then, you’ll be ready to go. If you’re looking for a place to stay in a particular country, that’s how you’ll search house sitting assignments.

If not, you can browse some near you, or just see what’s out there and decide to go to a new country after you’ve been accepted and know you’ll have accommodation there.

How to Make The Most of House Sitting

Have an open mind about all this. Another person is going to travel and is leaving his home to you, together with all his stuff. A decade ago that would have sounded crazy. Now, it’s a daily routine for some.

Appreciate having such options with the click of a button. It’s never been that easy to connect with such people from all over the world before.

Some places might be quite spacious and even luxurious, so you’ll feel great there. You might be offered a bike, will be able to use the Internet, and any other gadget or comfort that’s in the house.

Just imagine how much all that would cost if you were paying for it.

It can lead to friendships too, be it with the home owner, or people living in the area.

For you, it could be building a company, getting promoted at work, generating wealth, or more humble ambitions, such as being the best parent or partner. While success looks different to each person, we all have an innate desire to achieve.

No matter how you define success as an individual, here are some habits you can adopt to become more successful in everyday life.

1. Be Focused.

There are distractions all around us, from social media and smartphones to friends and family. While everyone needs some ‘me time,’ to be successful, you also need focus. As such, cut out distractions and set aside time to work towards your goal.

Remember: There is always something productive you can do.

2. Aim to Learn.

It can be easy to get hung up results but being successful is about more than the outcome. The key to being truly successful is about learning. This allows you to grow and adapt, changing your approach and leading to improvements. As such, make learning a goal. This will also help to keep you motivated, too.

3. Be Prepared.

Being prepared is essential to increase the chance of success. This can be applied to almost any situation. Whether you are expecting your first baby, have an upcoming exam or interview, or are considering CFD trading, all require research and preparation.

4. Stop the Excuses.

When something goes wrong, it can be easy to dig your head in the sand, but this is not a habit of a successful person. Instead, take responsibility. Stop your excuses, work on your weaknesses and make improvements. The onus is on you to be successful so step up, set challenges and drive yourself forward.

5. Be Happy.

You may be focussed on earning more money, or you may have a goal to buy a flash car. But if you’re working a job you cannot stand, putting in too many hours and sacrificing time with the ones you love, you could quickly start to feel miserable.

6. Feel Grateful.

Success is often less about material possessions or goals than it is about changing our perceptions.

This is why it is important to start recognizing the good things around you. Recognise and feel grateful for what you already have and you will soon feel very successful indeed.

7. Start Failing.

This may seem counterintuitive, but failure is a big part of success. It helps to highlight the things we do not want and essentially provides clarity. A little failure never hurt anyone. After all, no one has ever become successful without first experiencing failure.

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